Minutes:
G White provided the forum with a presentation covering the work of the IMPACT Team, and its purpose, within the Borough. The work of the IMPACT Team is supported by OWBC and the Police alongside other partners. As part of the Youth Offending Service the IMPACT Team are also able to work with specific young people on a one-to-one basis.
The IMPACT Team’s current area of focus is the Junction Road area in Wigston where groups of up to 30 or 40 young people are regularly gathering on a Friday and Saturday evening. The work they are undertaking in this area is greatly supported by the re-opening of El Café (whose current owners, Lee and Michelle, are very proactive in working with young people) and the provision of diversionary activities such as the Streetvibe Youth Bus. This support makes it easier to build a rapport with the young people present in the area as well as being able to use El Café and the Youth Bus as a base.
To further support the efforts of the IMPACT Team and their partners in engaging with the congregating young people an offer of ‘Building Positive Relationships’ training, developed over a number of years by the IMPACT Team, has been made to staff at El Café, McDonalds and Sainsbury’s. The aim of this training is to aide in preventing, or resolving, conflict between staff and young people which is currently an aggravating factor in the reported ASB. This training has previously been delivered successfully to staff at Tesco, South Wigston when similar issues were taking place in their vicinity.
As part of approaching the ASB problem in the Junction Road area the IMPACT Team feed in to a ‘Wigston Working Group’ (a sub-group of the JAG) which looks at sourcing funding for, and providing, more activities within the area. The IMPACT Team, OWBC, the Police, Voluntary Action Leicester, the Community Action Partnership and local residents are all involved in the work of this group which, at present, meets on a monthly basis the week prior to the JAG meetings. To underpin the work of this group two consultation events are being held at El Café on the 13th and 20th March, between 6.30pm and 8.30pm, to engage with young people and the community in order to look for a long term solution to the ASB. It is hoped that funding for activities commissioned through this group can be sought from several streams including the Community Safety Partnership and local businesses.
Alongside the above the IMPACT Team, which includes a dedicated sports worker, provided some sporting activities for young people over half term at Willow Park.
Members thanked G White for his presentation and asked some questions relating to the work of the IMPACT Team;
·
Where do the young people go when El
Café closes?
Typically the young people head to McDonalds at the end of the
existing activities. Members of the IMPACT Team finish their
working hours at 10pm but are currently remaining on site in order
to aid in the dispersal of the young people present.
·
Are the young people present getting in
to trouble because of where they are or are there actual
ASB issues instead of perceived
issues?
Only one or two young people present cause actual ASB issues and are, for the most part, ringleaders
in the problems that are occurring. Many of the complaints made
come down to the perception of the young people by the residents in
the area; the IMPACT Team do not wish to see all of the young
people that gather there tarred with the same brush and labelled en
masse as undertaking ASB.
·
What is the attraction to that
particular area of Wigston?
The area appears to have been adopted by smaller groups of young
people as a meeting point which has then been adopted by more young
people. McDonalds (and its free Wi-Fi) serves as a draw to the area
alongside the existing youth club at the Life Church. It’s a
‘catch 22’ situation in that if no activities were
provided in the area young people would gather with no positive
activities available whilst the activities that are provided also
act as a draw to the area. At this stage it’s important to
engage with the young people to find out which provisions they
would like to see in place for them.
G White closed by stating that anyone interested in supporting the consultation period is welcome to visit El Café on the consultation dates listed above.